Solving water crisis of Middle East and North Africa

Centre for strategic and international studies conducted an event on March 11, 2025. This is a discussion anchored by Natasha Hall, senior fellow of CSIS. The topic for this event was “How to overcome the politics of water in the Middle East” The participants in this event include O  Cuinn (Head Mission, Middle East Desalination Research Centre), Robyn Savage (Director,  Northeast Syria, NGO Forum), Hassan Janabi (Former Iraqi Minister of Water Resources and  Former Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey) and Neda Zawahri (Professor, Department of Political Science, Cleveland State University).  

The water crisis in northern Syria was the first point of discussion. Euphrates, the main river flowing across western Syria meet the water demand. Lake Assad formed due to the damming of this river is the backbone of Syria’s water supply. This is a transboundary river, originating along the southern banks of the Black Sea mountains and cutting across Turkey before entering  Syria. Turkey has constructed three barrages across this river and the tailwater from Ataturk barrage flows into Syria. Although a small part of this country is located near the Mediterranean  Sea, this part has not been effectively used to meet the water demand of the country through desalination. Lake Assad should have been utilized efficiently to meet the water demand of  Alouk region in northern Syria that is facing severe water shortage due to the failure of Alouk  Water station. The Alouk Water Station draws water from 30 artesian wells, near the village of  Aluk Sharqi, located 10 km east of Ras al-Ayn/Serê Kaniyê, that get feed water from the catchment area in southern Turkey. In 2019 Turkey took control of the Alouk water station.  This has caused a poor supply of water to the population of al-Hasakeh governorate. The damaged water station was never rectified due to several factors including the non-availability of spare parts and more importantly the political situation governing this region.  

Like Syria, Jordan too is a water-stressed country. The current country’s annual water demand is 1158 million m3 while available water is only 977 million m3. This demand soon will grow to 2000 million m3 soon. Unlike Syria, Jordan has no flowing rivers and has to depend on  desalination to meet water demand. This problem is escalating due to the influx of refugees from neighbouring countries. This country managed this problem temporarily by curtailing water  supply to farmers and the municipal sector. 

The past couple of decades, the way Jordan has managed this water deficit is by cutting supplies to farmers, cutting supplies to the municipal sector, drilling unsustainably, and begging for water from its neighbouring states. Cutting water supply to the agricultural sector is not a sustainable solution. Jordan attempted to make a political agreement to use Ded Sea water with neighbouring  countries but the solution never emerged. Jordan tried to be involved in a water-energy Bartel system of the project between the neighbouring countries. Under this agreement, Jordan will supply energy from solar energy plants in exchange of water from desalination plants. This plan did not see the light due to various factors. Jordan yet to succeed in solving its water problem.  

Such issues related to water and food can easily be resolved using the current available scientific  technology. By harnessing the heat available in the Earth. These countries can be independent with respect to food-water energy. A viable solution to provide water-food security was already proposed by the author through “geothermal power Corridor” and was published in a peer-reviewd journal (Chandrasekharam, D. 2023. Geothermal power corridor- connecting the Middle East Countries. Bull. Min. Res. Exp. 171,197-204). Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey  have ample geothermal resources that can be developed for the sustainable development of these countries and make them food and water-independent. As detailed in that paper, the energy that can be tapped from the Red Sea ridge flanks, in addition to the hydrothermal energy resources in Jizan and Al-Lith in the Western Arabian Shield region, is about 340 TWh. Similarly, the geothermal resources available in Turkey is greater than ~6 x 109 kWh. Jordan too has a huge amount of untapped geothermal energy near Aqab Gulf as well as around the Ded Sea opposite to Amman. The power generated from these sources in these countries can be connected through transmission lines (power grid) and can be utilised for generating freshwater using desalination technology. The countries will have food and water secured without any political strings. This will be a permanent solution to meet the present and future demands of Middle East and North  African countries (MENA). Since the countries are empowered with their own energy sources,  sharing the resources will not invite any political agreements. Future solutions should centre around new innovative technologies that are being commercialized rather than political debates and agreements. Thus, there is a scientific solution to mitigate water wars!!